Steve Griffin's Blog, page 3

Favourite books – a little self indulgence…

OK, this post is a bit indulgent, but have any of you writers out there ever thought about which of your own books you like most? I spent half an hour the other night thinking about just that. I ended up rating them for ���Best Beginning���, ���Best Ending��� and ���Overall Favourite���. And here���s what came out tops:

Best Beginning: The Girl in the Ivory Dress ��� after the relatively slow build of the mystery in The Boy in the Burgundy Hood, I wanted to hit the ground running in the se...

The Ghosts of Alice series sells 5000 copies!

The Ghosts of Alice series – three of my books starting with The Boy in the Burgundy Hood – chalked up 5000 sales this week!

I never thought when I began indie publishing my stories that I’d sell anything like that number. I was always happy just to know people were able to find and read (and hopefully enjoy!) what I’d written. So this has been the icing on the cake, especially during the couple of periods when The Boy in the Burgundy Hood hit bestseller status on Amazon.

If you like gh...

The Ultimate Ending

I���ve been thinking recently, how often does the ending of a film, book or TV series exceed your expectations? How many times have you been blown away ��� either devastated or thrilled ��� in those closing moments?

(Alert ��� there are plenty of spoilers in this post, so proceed with caution…)

For me, there tend to be two, linked things that lift a story above and beyond the norm. Sadly, one of them is the death of the main character. As a young boy, I was forever imprinted by watching...

2023 – A Year in Writing

As it’s that time for reflection, I thought I’d give an overview of my year from a writing perspective. First of all, the good. As most of you will know, I���ve been concentrating on my supernatural thrillers for the past five years. I���ve written three books in The Ghosts of Alice series, but this year I wanted to publish two standalone horror books that I���ve had in the pipeline for a while�� and which I���m glad to say I managed to do.

The first, The Man in the Woods, I started several y...

The Haunted House

What image comes to mind for you when you think of a haunted house?

I���ve been writing ghost stories for 5 years now and I���ve realised that the houses I have haunted have become progressively more ���everyday��� with each successive story. As if you don���t need heightened melodrama of a setting to chill ��� fear can come to you in the most mundane of places.

In The Boy in the Burgundy Hood, the red-hooded boy and the wounded woman haunt an old medieval manor with sprawling grounds ...

Black Beacon Setting: Beachy Head & the South Downs

Here���s some photos of the South Downs including the stunning Beachy Head, where the hills crumble in a mass of pulverised chalk to the English Channel. A lonely red-and-white lighthouse prevents ships crashing into the cliffs. This spot features in my latest ghost story, Black Beacon, which is set on the sometimes radiant, often bleak, always beautiful landscape of the downs. Like several of the other elements in the story, it draws on my own personal experience.

The character of The...

Black Beacon – a reading

Time for a short reading from my latest book, BLACK BEACON, a chilling ghost story for Christmas!

Theo, short of money but determined he and his wife shall have a good Christmas, has decided to take a tree from the forest – but he’s got hopelessly lost. Then he comes across a figure in the darkness…

Here’s some of the wonderful things people have been saying about Black Beacon since its release:

***** I loved this book and read it in one sitting late at night with the aftermat...

Black Beacon – Tragedy to Hope

My latest book, Black Beacon: A Christmas Ghost Story, is inspired by the story of my German grandfather, Egon Korn, who was captured in the Second World War and who met and married my grandmother whilst a Prisoner of War in Eastbourne. I adored both my grandparents, so in this post you’ll find a few photos of them (including a baby Steve and his young mum!)

I���ve been fascinated with the experience of being a Prisoner of War ever since I began the research for the novel. There���s an exc...

Black Beacon – Inspiration

Black Beacon is one of my favourite, and one of my most personal, books so far.

This is why:

One, it takes place on the Sussex Downs, near Beachy Head, and in Eastbourne, where I was born. I love this area of the south coast for the wide sweep of the Downs (broad, grassy hills, with small pockets of woodland); for the white cliffs that plunge into the rough sea with its red-and-white striped lighthouse; and for the pastel blues, whites, greys and browns of its pebble beaches. And Eastbo...

Black Beacon: A Christmas Ghost Story – Out Now!

I���m SUPER excited to tell you my latest book, Black Beacon, a chilling Christmas ghost story set on the snow-swept South Downs, is out now!

Here���s what it’s about:

1976. The South Downs.

The Christmas it snowed.

The Christmas that evil returned���

Struggling with money, Theo and Nat are doing their best to make Christmas special. It���s been a hard time of year for them, ever since they lost their beloved daughter.

But this year, their troubles are just beginning. They a...